Manually-removable bottle-cap.



D. L. McLACHLAN.

MANUALLY REMOVABLE BOTTLE CAP.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 26, 1915. RENEWED APR-21.1917- 1%935. Patented Mar. 12, ms.

rio era f d T MANUALLY-REMOVABLE BOTTLE-CAP.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patemlteetll Mimi's 12, 191%.;

Application filed June 26, 1915, Serial No. 36,583. Renewed April 21, 1917. Serial No. 163,705.

To all wiwm it may concern:

Be it known that 1, DAVID L. MCLAOHLAN, a subject of the 'King of Great Britain, residing at Collingwood, in the Province of Ontario and Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Manually-Removable Bottle-Caps, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in metal caps for closing bottles, and has for its object to provide a device of this character which embodies novel features of construction whereby it provides a tight seal for the bottle when in position thereon, and can be readily removed by the fingers without the use of any special tools.

Further objects of the invention are to provide a bottle cap of this character which is simple and inexpensive in its construction and can be readily stamped from a single piece of sheet metal, which can be easily placed in position upon the bottle or re moved therefrom without the use of any special tool, which does not interfere with the handling of the bottles in the usual manher, and which can be used repeatedly.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certain novel combinations and arrangements of the parts as will more fully appear as the description proceeds, the novel features thereof being pointed out in the appended claims.

For a full understanding of the invention, reference is to be had to the following description and accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a bottle neck provided with a cap constructed in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view on the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, showing a slight modification.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawing by the same reference characters.

Specifically describing the present embodiment of the invention, the numeral 1 designates a bottle neck which may be of the conventional construction and is provided at the mouth thereof with the usual exterior rib 2. The cap is designed to be stamped from a single sheet of spring material and includes a body portion 3 and a series of retaining arms 4 which project radially from the body portion and are constructed for engagement with the annular rib 2 at the mouth of the bottle to retain the cap in position. The body portion 3 of the cap is pressed outwardly so that it has a hollow formation, being concave on the ins1de and convex on the outside. The walls of the body portion of the cap are thus arched in all directions so that the said body portion has a rigid formation and is not liable to be bent or buckled in the ordinary handling or manipulation of the cap. The retaining arms 4 have a curved format1on so as to extend under the shoulder at the base of the annular rib 2 of the bottle neck. The upper ends of the retaining fingers 4 intersect the edge of the body portion 3 at a sharp angle so as to provide an annular rib or shoulder 5 which will bite into and firmly engage the packing ring 6 in such a manner as to tightly seal the bottle. It will also be observed that the upper ends of the retaining fingers t are flared so that the base of each finger merges into the base of the adjacent fingers. The resiliency of the retaining fingers thus increases gradually toward the free or outer ends thereof where the maximum bending takes place in applying the cap and removing the same. The extremity of each of the retaining fingers 4 is provided with an outwardly projecting and reversely curved finger piece 7. These finger pieces 7 intersect the fingers at a sharp angle so that the best possible engagement can be obtained by the retaining fingers with the base of the rib 2 of the bottle neck, while the lower ends of the finger pieces 7 are curved upwardly away from the bottle neck so that they can be readily engaged by the fingers for the purpose of flexing the retaining fingers outwardly to disengage the cap from the bottle neck. The packing ring 6 may be formed of cork or similar material and is interposed between the end of the bottle neck and the body portion 3 of thecap in such a manner as to be engaged by the annular rib 5 at the periphery of the body portion 3 of the cap and pressed firmly against the bottle neck. In order to remove the cap from the bottle it is merely necessary to grasp one or more of the finger pieces 7 and flex the retaining fingers outwardly into inoperative position. The caps are not destroyed by removal from the bottle and can be used repeatedly. The several outwardly curved finger pieces 7 cooperate with each other to provide a flared mouth leading into the cap, so that in order to apply one of the caps to a bottle it is merely necessary to place it upon the bottle neck and force it into operative position. The retaining fingers 4 will first be flexed outwardly as the finger pieces 7 slide over the edge of the annular rib 2 of the bottle neck, and will finally spring under the said rib 2 when the cap is properly seated in position.

A slight modification is shown by Fig. 4:, in which the periphery of the body portion 3 is formed with an annular crimp providing a downwardly projecting rib 8 which will have a tendency to bite into the packing ring 6 and produce a tight sealing joint at the mouth of the bottle. This annular crimp 8 is also disposed at substantially the junction of the body portion 3 and retaining arms or fingers 4 so as to provide a partially flexible joint at this point and admit of the retaining arms being readily sprung outwardly when placing the cap in position or removing it there rom. In other particulars the construction of the cap is identical with that previously described and the cap is applied to the bottle and removed therefrom in the same manner.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A manually removable bottle cap formed from a single piece of sheet materiaI and including a concave circular body portion arched in all directions to provide a rigid dome, and a series of resilient retaining arms projecting outwardly from the base of the dome and curved downwardly so as to fit around the rib of a bottle neck, said retaining arms flaring sharply toward the bases thereof so that the sides of adjacent arms form substantial continuations of each other and have a substantially tangential meeting with the base of the dome, the

arms and edge of the dome intersecting at a sharp angle so as to provide an annular shoulder adapted to bite into a packing ring interposed between the dome and the mouth of the bottle.

2. A manually removable bottle cap are tangential to the periphery of the dome,

said arms intersecting thedome at a sharp angle so as to provide an annular shoulder adapted to bite into a packing ring interposed between the dome and the mouth of the bottle, and outwardly extended reversely curved finger pieces projecting from the extremities of the retaining arms and inter secting the same at a sharp angle.

3. A manually removable bottle cap formed from a single piece of sheet material and including a circular'concave body portion arched in all directions to provide a rigid dome and having an annular crimp at the base thereof to provide a downwardly projecting rib adapted to bite into a packing ring interposed between the dome and the mouth of a bottle, and a series of resilient retaining arms extending radially outward from the base of the dome and recurved downwardly for engagement with the exterior rib of a bottle neck, the bases of the retaining arms'having a sharp flare so that the sides ofadja'cent arms form substantial continu'ations of each other and are tangential to the dome.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

DAVID L. MCLACHLAN.

Witnesses:

James Cox, JOHN D. MoGmn. 

